Neurodivergent (Headcanon) Alley: Scrooge McDuck (DuckTales)

Scrooge’s neurodivergent coding didn’t jump out as quickly for me as some of the other characters’ did. But as I’ve said, it’s positively genetic with these ducks, so once I started looking to trace it back to the source, I realized it’s super easy to read Scrooge as autistic.

In hindsight, though, it’s obvious. I wouldn’t automatically think of money as a special interest, but the way Scrooge engages with it, it really is. I mean, he meticulously designed a giant bin to hold all his money, complete with a diving board to jump into his massive pile of gold—he enjoys his wealth in a tactile, sensory-seeking way. He’s so tuned into the bin that he can tell when any of his money has gone missing, even if it’s just what amounts to pocket change.

Scrooge’s love of money ties into his other main special interest: adventuring. He goes on regular expeditions in search of lost treasure and mystical artifacts. A big benefit of this is that it allows him to expand his wealth, of both the natural and supernatural variety, but he also just loves adventuring for the thrill of it. He likes putting his esoteric knowledge to practical use, solving ancient puzzles, and engaging in a bit of swashbuckling action. Scrooge is incredibly good at what he does. When he’s on an adventure, he’s able to lock in, both mentally and physically, tenaciously pursuing his goals until he achieves what he wants. He also has an ability to “see the angles” of a situation and recognize larger patterns, a trait he shares with Louie.

Scrooge is incredibly thorough, a big believer that something worth doing is worth doing right. Whether that means designing a security system for his bin that’s so elaborate even he can’t evade it, or using the journal of Isabella Finch as a checklist for the greatest adventures of all time, he goes all in on the things that hold his interest. That can cause problems with others—he can be inflexibly “my way or the highway,” and his meticulous nature can leave his family bored to tears while they wait for him to leave no stone unturned.

Social skills aren’t Scrooge’s forte. He often comes off as curmudgeonly, though it’s more accurate to say he’s both blunt and exacting. He doesn’t always realize the effect his words and actions can have, which can lead him to cause offense unknowingly, and he can steamroll over other people in his single-minded focus. Always, he’s stingy to a ludicrous degree, and he isn’t shy about that fact—his penny-pinching ways can definitely rub people the wrong way.

I’m not sure if season 3 cranks up the characters’ ND-coded traits or if it just feels more evident to me there because, by the time I was watching it, I knew what I’m looking for—it’ll be an interesting thing to consider on rewatch. Either way, Scrooge feels soooooo autistic to me throughout season 3. A few highlights:

·        “Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!” – Scrooge is super excited to follow in Isabella Finch's footsteps, but as the resulting adventure starts to veer in a different direction, he gets irritated with everybody. It’s a cool adventure, but it’s not the adventure he wants to be having, so he can’t enjoy himself.

·        “The Lost Harp of Mervana!” – At the start of the adventure, Scrooge defers to Huey’s expertise on Mervana, since he’s the one who put the expedition together. But he’s too excited about it and can’t help interrupting Huey’s explanation to the others. However, rather than either of them getting annoyed at the other, the scene culminates in Scrooge and Huey tag-team infodumping so happily that they wind up jumping up and down in their glee over it. Too cute!

·        “Escape from the Impossi-Bin!” – This is the episode where Scrooge Does the Absolute Most to beef up security on his bin. He’s so focused on keeping his money safe that he’s kind of delighted when his security measures nearly kill him, Della, and Louie multiple times.

·        “How Santa Stole Christmas” – I love learning about the origins of Scrooge’s feud with Santa. The idea of Scrooge as a coal salesman is a great one—he has a product people badly need during the winter, but his shaky people skills prevent him from making the sale. When Santa comes along, all effortless charm and good cheer, Scrooge is irritated by his relentless jollity, but he recognizes the value in teaming up, since Santa makes a good frontman to cozy up to the customers. And when it comes down to it, Scrooge is someone who’s often chosen to be alone rather than compromise his own interests, and he’s pretty affected by having a genuine friend.